"Parents residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of first doubt, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
